My Top 10 Favorite Reviews of 2016
So, it's taken me awhile to make up this list. For the past couple of years, I've done it right at the end of the year. While figuring out what was the worst of the worst this year was pretty easy, I actually had a hard time picking out what I think were my favorite reviews. I mean, the absolute-absolute favorites (the top 6 or so) jumped out to me immediately, the bottom half of this list was a little bit harder to fill in because I think that I did really good this year. While not every review of mine was absolutely perfect - sometimes I couldn't put myself all in due to physical pain or some other crisis in my life - in general, I think that I did better in 2016 than I had done in years prior. I guess the reason for that plain and simple is that I took what I was doing more seriously. Not that I didn't take what I did seriously in years prior, but I treated reviewing more as my job this year and while people usually say that as a negative, I mean that in the best way possible. Not to mention, I kind of went crazy with paranoia over death and the fear of leaving behind nothing actually helped me create a lot of really great reviews, and a lot of other interesting creative wonders. The latter thing may have been why early in the summer, I think I had one of my best stretches ever. It was right before my surgery. It arguably started with my Homer Badman ''review in late April, but I'm really proud of everything starting from the ''D.W's Very Bad Mood review up to the Norm of the North review. And then another really good stretch started with The Telescope ''review. But already in 2017, I'm trying to outdo what I had done last year, and maybe get in a few really get stretches. But, we're here to talk about the past and not the future. '''Number 10: The Rapsittie Kids/D.W.'s Very Bad Mood (Atrocities)' So, one of the bigger things that happened in 2016 is that I hired an editor, starting with my Shop Talk review. This was something that I had planned on doing for awhile. Ever since the beginning, editing has always been trouble. Not only was it my biggest weakness, it was my least favorite part of the process. Watching an episode had never been too much trouble. Writing a script and spilling my opinion onto a page is probably the most enjoyable part, and I can even tolerate audio editing fairly well. But, there's just something about video editing that I absolutely loathed - maybe it's how finicky and prone to crashing even the most expensive video editing program is, or it could be the fact that I have to keep seeing clips of the cartoon episode that annoys me so, or maybe it's just the fact that it takes absolutely forever to do this. However, getting an editor has had an effect on how I view some of my videos in hindsight. You know, I do end up feeling more pride over videos where I did 100% of the work, so I wasn't sure where to put any of these videos on the list. Next year it'll be easier because, if things go according to plan, all of them should be edited by AnimatedBeing. That being said, I didn't want to not include any edited videos on this list because what the editors did was awesome and the videos are ten times better than I could have made them myself. Also, for those wondering, D.W.'s Very Bad Mood was not edited by my current editor, which is why they're of very different styles, and I think that watching these two videos separately showcases just how much editing can have an effect on the overall product. Because of the editing, D.W.'S Very Bad Mood is one of my funnier reviews. It's not a style that I'd use for every single one of my reviews, but something like that is good for an occasional excursion, especially if it's a type of show that I've reviewed over and over again. I.E., the next time that I review a gross out show or another 3Edgy5you adult cartoon, I'm going to have to do something out of the box. As for my own part of the experience, with D.W.'s Very Bad Mood, it was super satisfying to rant on D.W. I don't think that I have to mention that I really hate the bratty little sibling character type. Even on good shows like Ed, Edd n Eddy, I don't like Sarah. Hey, did you guys ever have a relative that always spoiled the youngest children to the point of excluding and ignoring the older children entirely, that always took the side of the younger child - even if they acted out of spite or malice - under the argument of "they don't know any better" and called them babies when they were like six or seven? Cuz I had relatives like that, and it made family reunions annoying growing up and it gave me a special dislike to this kind of character because in real life, two things happen. Either they become spoiled to hell, or another sibling gets born and their world crashes in on them, and neither are pleasant to experience. What was I talking about? I mean, they weren't as bad as the Reeds, but I don't think anyone could be. As a child, watching their treatment of D.W. is annoying. Watching their treatment of D.W. as an adult is actually kind of frightening, because yeah... treating a child like they treat D.W. would lead her down a very bad pathway. And I guess it was pretty fun to rant on D.W. As for Rapsittie, despite its awful, awful, awful visuals, it wasn't the worst thing that I had to watch and review. Being off of both Teen Titans Go and The Nutshack, this was almost a relief. And the story was easier to watch than Dorbees. Honestly, this one is kind of "so good, it's bad," except for the animation and sandwich kid. Like everything out of that kid's mouth equates to "girls are icky" and it's just... goddamn shut him up already. Also, ranting about Ms. teacher-person's lesson on "if they treat you like shit, it means they like you" was something that I had been wanting to get off my chest for awhile. Quick story, a lot of people have been asking me to do a season recap thing of all of the Loud House season 1 episodes, and I have been doing that. And it's made me realize how much I don't like Ronnie Anne. She spends her first episode bullying Lincoln (Heavy Meddle) showcasing no chemistry and a bad relationship, and then in Save the Date, he's forced into a relationship with her because he was forced to date her. And I don't think it's as... "charming childhood" as they're going for. What can I say, ranting about something that's been building up brings a review into my good graces. Number 9: Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy (Atrocity) Time to get a little controversial. I didn't give many angry reviews this year, probably for the better. If any of them stand out for being angry, it's Droppin' Da Bomb and this one. But, I'm going to be honest, I do like this review. If I do have a problem, I think that it's because my anger ramped up way too quickly. I didn't want to reorder the shorts - which may or may not have been a mistake - but there were a few real stinkers at the start. The second short was "Ha ha, a Scottish accent is funny" and the third was "ha ha, AIDS is funny" which weren't particular pleasant. Why do I like this review though? Well, I think that it had some really good jokes, from censoring things with pictures of Oscar and Norm to "Cooooows." I don't really think I have much more to say about it than that. Sometimes it really is that simple. If you want more thoughts on this, I also put it on my Worst episodes reviewed in 2016 too. Top 10 Worst Episodes that I've Reviewed in 2016 Number 8: Shark Tale (Atrocity) 'As much trouble as movie reviews tend to be for me, or at least used to be - with my new editor, we'll see - movie reviews tend to become some of my favorite reviews. From ''Chicken Little to Drawn Together: The Movie. As bad as some of these things are, they tend to give me good material to riff on. And Shark Tale was in one of the best places for a movie review - it's not godawful, but it's stupid. And stupidity probably gives me my best material. Well, probably second best next to weirdness. This is another movie where I don't have much to say, except that the reason it's on the list is because of the funny moments. I will say this though - some of the best jokes of this episode came out via editing, and it was one of the biggest contributors to an argument against me getting an editor, not that the editing in this video is particularly great. It's just that, I don't write gags like "Gir dancing to Mr. Wonderful" or putting party hats on everyone and shouting "moron party" into the script. Sometimes, I'll make a prompt for a joke and fill it in later, like "Freaky Friday + Alien." At least, that's how I used to do it. '''Number 7: The Beginner's Guide (Other) Every year I toy with some strange idea or experiment. In 2015, I did that Eras of Animation thing - which I probably won't continue. Honestly, I probably could have given it the title "Admirable Animations - Early Animation"; 2014 had Top 25 Most Disturbing Episodes of Kids' Cartoons; and 2013 had my most interesting experiment - reviewing cartoon episodes. Sometimes they take off, sometimes they didn't. Well, only last year's and this year's didn't really take off. I'll be honest, I probably should have a.) done a different video game for my first video game review and b.) waited until my strike had expired before I uploaded this review. I've said it before that I get random intense obsessions occasionally, and sometimes that bleeds into my reviews. I reviewed the Little Shop cartoon in 2015 because I was obsessed with the movie at the time. Back at the beginning of the year, this game became my obsession. And that's really strange because it's quite small. It takes an hour to play, and it only takes a few play times to see everything. There are no branching pathways. But, despite the game almost practically demonizing analysis, it really demands analysis. And, like many reviews of 2016, it seemed to play into some of the issues that I was facing at the time. You know, there's the fear that someone will interpret a part of your work as saying something about you as a person. And it happens. Sometimes on a small scale, or sometimes on a large scale. How many kids have been called into the principal's office because they drew a picture of something violent? Not to mention, there were parts that made me feel like I related to Coda, or rather an interpretation of Coda. The prison levels where he kept making the same thing over and over again, with minor changes, but not moving onto another project. I suppose that I'm talking more about the game than my experience reviewing it. I dunno... it was really fun to talk about my knowledge in game design and figuring out the holes in Davey's story. I had noticed that no one really pointed out the significance of the maze on the spaceship - how it gives value to the sacrifice at the end. Then again, this game kind of calls people out for doing those two things I just said were fun. Weird game. Number 6: Painbow (Atrocity) 'Once upon a time, the dream was for me to get a cartoon on one of the big three networks. It was a pipe dream, but in all honesty, that was probably for the best. Because the big three cartoon networks are awful. I'm not talking in the products they make - I'm talking about how they treat their cartoons. Disney Channel will accept your cartoon and then boot it to Disney XD where it will die a slow death so they can play more painfully awful sitcoms. With Nickelodeon, shows will... how did that song go? They're going to go on forever, or they'll go down in flames. Yeah, that just about sums up every Nickelodeon show ever. They've had this problem since the beginning. Before Spongebob went on too long, everyone was complaining that Rugrats had gone on too long. Everyone is celebrating that they're finally getting rid of ''Fairly OddParents ten seasons in, but in my bones I know that this means that Loud House may be subject to a similar fate - forced to go on for years and years. It stands a better chance at surviving because they have a dozen main characters now and shouldn't feel the temptation to shoe-horn them in a decade from now. And then there's Cartoon Network. I feel that we're at the dawn of another one of their bad eras. It's not going to be as bad as their CN Real era, but the cracks are already beginning to show. Teen Titans Go is aired more than the Sponge. Gumball, Adventure Time, and Regular Show are on their way out, with nothing to replace them. Well, there's one thing. Powerpuff Girls 2016 is the apex of all of this, and one of the worst things that Cartoon Network ''has done. And the show isn't even that bad. I like some of the episodes. But taking a show from a creator, with no involvement from the creator for a show that had no demand, as the ratings now prove. All the while, ignoring another creator who wanted a spin-off of his older show, and got plenty of attention with a petition, proving demand. Why did they do this? For toy sales. They wants to sells you the Professor Plutonium dolls because that's what Cartoon Network thinks they are - a toy company. And this is after killing Tower Prep because they didn't want to sell toys to girls. I lost a lot of respect for Cartoon Network over their treatment of the Powerpuff Girls franchise. That's not exactly a good thing, but it does lead to a really good review. I am really happy that Adult Swim is getting the Samurai Jack reboot, because Cartoon Network would fuck it up. Honestly, if you're pitching a cartoon, either go with Adult Swim or Netflix. Despite their problems, at least I get the feeling that they respect their properties. Also, fun fact, two projects I want to do in 2016 - a ''Further Thoughts on Powerpuff Girls 2016, and just a rundown on the direction that Cartoon Network is going. By the way, Further Thoughts is a series so I don't have to bog down the actual review with tangential information, like what happened with my Test of the Tested review. I got a lot of people commenting that on my Further Thoughts on The Goode Family. It probably needs a better name, but... that's why. 'Number 5: Nurm uf Teh Nurth (Atrocity) '''In the credits of this video, I say that I "want to be done with this movie forever." Then it gets into one of the strangest copyright battles I've ever faced, where the not-copyright owners decide to give me a strike over it and take it down... two weeks later. And it ends up being a copyright battle that takes months, finally coming back into view what... like September? Why is this here? If you'd have to ask me what my funniest review is, it's probably this one. I get a lot of material out of stupid, and I get a lot of material out of bizarre, and this movie has both. It's honestly why I'm kind of excited for the Emoji review. Because, if it's as bad as it's looking to be, then it's going to be a great review. Also, those rumors about the Emoji movie getting cancelled due to "trailer backlash" is false. Sony don't give a damn about trailer backlash, as we've learned repeatedly in 2016. Also, if the movie is going to be released in what... August? It's so close to being done that scrapping it now would be even more stupid and waste more money than releasing it and getting panned to hell and back. But back to Norm of the North, I don't understand any of the decisions in this movie and that makes a great review. What can you say about a movie where the problem would be resolved faster and better if the main character literally did nothing? The plot is that the bad guy wants to build vacation homes in the ''arctic, one of the most inhospitable places on the planet. Norm can talk the universal language of "human" because sdfgfdasfdavs gfv dgvbg ddvgdtfgs arctic potatoes. The movie just fascinates me. 'Number 4: The Telescope (Admirable) '''And now we get into the big ones. I'll be honest, the top four reviews on this list are probably my top four of all time. I've already mentioned that ''BoJack Horseman is my favorite cartoon of all time. And that's weird because I probably got into it at the worst possible time of my life. So, I started watching this show when I was deep in my paranoia about dying and had an unmoveable fear of death. And the main character is a washed up celebrity whose time has come and gone, when that's probably the direction that I'll go. The only real question is when, and how big will I be before that happens? I could slowly diminish over time, or I could be the target of a scandal that isn't my fault at all, or I could do something really stupid. And the funny thing about stupid is that "stupid" is only in hindsight. It may seem like I'm being hyperbolic, and maybe I am, but while making my Screams of Silence review, or my Peter-Assment review, or my Troll ''review, or especially my ''Homer Badman review or the Further Thoughts on the Goode Family, I was hyper aware the whole process that that could have been the end of the line. Even more minor things, like getting a new editor or not making a video because I was in pain (or making a video while in pain) could actually have had disastrous consequences. I keep taking risks, and while most of them have paid off, there's always the feeling that I've made a mistake. And I keep taking risks because I have to keep taking risks. If you don't take risks as a creator, you fall into obscurity. A part of me taking what I do more seriously is facing the realities of it more and more. For better or worse, I do see a possibility of me ending up like BoJack, because as an entertainer there are three options. Either you keep doing what you do until the day you die, you end up like BoJack Horseman, or you end up like Skipper Dan link. Fun fact, BoJack Horseman had both things happen to him. His star faded over time as his show was canceled, and then he made the BoJack Horseman Show, which was the moment when his shooting star exploded. When you fear death, you go through bouts of hedonism and nihilism. They're not very fun. Well, the hedonism kind of is. Then it's not. But the nihilism isn't fun. Much of 2016 was spent with me trying to figure out the "meaning" of my life, and I don't know. There was so much that I wanted to say in this review, but I held myself back because see above. I've wanted to make a further thoughts on that video, but... I just don't a full grasp on my feelings. And... all of this would make you think that I hated making this review, but honestly I think that it's something that I needed to do, and I can't really describe it, but it helped me out a lot. Not to mention, this review was one of my more effective ones - a lot of people commented that the review helped them look beyond the show's first impression because the beginning episodes were pretty stupid. But the more I think about them, the more i think that that was intentional. If you look at the character BoJack superficially, you see a stupid asshole, like you'd expect a washed-up celebrity to be. But if you spend some time and look past the grain, you see something deeper. First impressions... they're something interesting. I don't have those anymore. Some people see one of my off reviews, or my reviews from three years ago and they think they know everything about me and don't see any improvement that I've made over the years. Not to mention what they probably think of me as a person. Just another one of those things that I'm not supposed to say. '''Number 3: Peter-Assment (Atrocity) Speaking of risks, I did three... "very special episodes" reviews this year. Will I do more in 2017? I don't know. Probably, because I can't seem to keep my mouth shut on issues like this. Who knows, maybe Divorce Can Happen to the Nicest People will be my exploding star because divorce is a billion dollar industry with lawyers who are incentivized to encourage a take 'em to the cleaners attitude and so many other... teensy little problems. My stance on divorce is "a good divorce is better than a bad marriage, it's just that divorces are incentivized to be bad" by the way. The Goode Family isn't on here because the first part was kind of meandering and I didn't articulate myself very well. But, Peter-Assment. ''It's one of those episodes where you wonder "is it really that bad?" before you watch it, and then when you do, you remember how much you disliked it. I already talked about this on the worst list. It was fairly low, because it mostly made one mistake, but just... that mistake. It's a bad one. I don't know how much more I could say about the review. I said that I wanted to do a further addendum on these big "very special episodes" but this one probably has the least updates. This are awful and have been awful. Attitudes and stereotypes are dying, but very, very slowly. The problems that I mentioned in the second part especially are extremely serious. A male victim of rape, if his rapist gets pregnant, is still on the hook for 18-21 years of child support because due to stupid, a man must pay child support even if the child was conceived as a result of a crime on the part of the woman. And if the joke-term "good of the child" was ever taken seriously, the rapist wouldn't be allowed to have custody of that child. I won't say that "no one is talking about this" because people are. It's just that no one is doing anything about it. It's... frustrating in ways that I can't really articulate. At least, better than I already did. I think that the stereotype that "men always want sex" is literally the most dangerous and awful stereotype about men. To this episode's credit, ''I think, that Lois was supposed to be a strawman when she said it in the episode, but it was a weird part in Family Guy history when Lois was transitioning from the down-to-earth always right person to "would be worst character even if the other Griffins didn't exist." I like doing reviews like this because I'm usually very proud of the project that comes out of it. But I don't like doing reviews like this because I do know how badly that it could end up. Number 2: Homer Badman (Admirable) Maybe I should do more admirable animations this year, because most of them turned out really, really good. The only one I'm kind of eh on in hindsight is probably the Bounty Hamster one. Probably should have put more effort into that one. It's just the pain of epidydimal cysts keeping me down, I guess. Anyway, back on subject. Homer Badman, which I consider my biggest risk ever. And I made this video kind of before 2016 turned out to be exceptionally insane. Before pretty much all media outlets decided to turn into the equivalent of tabloid journalism. There were plenty of faked this and that before I made this video, but it seemed like quite a lot after that too. Also, universities and colleges went even more batshit crazy. That being said, I'm still nervous about talking about this subject matter, because it's never really safe ground. There's a lot of debate and pressure on both sides of the aisle and it's hard to truly find a solution. I could talk about the rights of the accused and how to attain justice. Even with all of that, Homer Badman is probably the further thoughts that I wanted the most to do an addendum on because there was so much stuff going on. It might have been redundant, but I dunno. I will reinstate the main point though - mob mentality is bad, and no matter the circumstance, we need the full story before we go to town. One of the biggest problems with mob mentality is that so many people think that what they're doing under it is right because they're in an echo chamber, and people will do absolutely heinous things because doing so would be morally right. You know, people say that I take cartoons or whatever too seriously, but it does have the opportunity to do really speak, you know? Sometimes it resonates throughout the ages. And honestly, when it comes to a work of fiction, there are only two options - the creator took it seriously, the creator didn't take it seriously. If the creator took it seriously, I should take it seriously. If the creator didn't take it seriously, they wouldn't care what I do. So, the safer option is taking the work seriously. When I take works seriously, I can point out the greatness of things like this. And even if something is awful, like Rapsittie, it's more productive to take it seriously and give it honest criticism than just laughing at it. Number 1: Top 20 Worst Cartoon Theme Songs (Atrocity) I don't know if this is a weird choice for number one, but it's my favorite review from 2016 and probably my favorite review of all time, because unlike most other options on this list, I had a lot of fun making this review. Not to mention that I got my friends to help me with it and it turned into a very nice team effort. Was it tough listening to about 30-35 bad theme songs on loop? Yeah, definitely, but I think that it was worth the effort. I mean, altogether the video is an hour long. Some people don't agree with some of my choices - namely Rurouni Kenshin Freckles and some of the 4Kids themes, and that's understandable. Although, I don't know why so many people like the Kirby Right Back at Ya theme. Actually, I'm more surprised that people were... well, surprised with it being on the list, since I've been shit-talking that theme at damn near the beginning. I know a lot of people are going to ask this question on my next video, but why isn't Squirrel Boy on this list? To be totally honest, I only learned about the Captain Planet season 6 theme when I was half way done with the video, and I had to knock it off entirely. I forgot to re-add it to the the dishonorable mentions. I think that the comedy in this review was really on-point. Terrible theme songs are really easy to make fun of. I think that everyone remembers "DUCKS! THERE'S SOME ADVENTURE! LOOK HOW COOL IT IS! DUCKS! WOO-HOO!". By the way, I'm looking for an episode from that show to do an admirable animation, because I do want to give each of the shows their own individual shake. But, some stand out moments I remember is Angela Anaconda playing her life story to an empty stage and my... creative mismatches to various other theme songs. But, the best parts of this review were the parts that I didn't do. MongolianPangolin's animation and VooDooRaisin's and Kiha's voice acting made the review. There was the Pickle & Peanut animation, Luffy's dubbed lines, and that Shaggy and Scooby bit at the end. This review would not be what it is without their help. Let's see what I can do in 2017. Category:Miscellaneous